MUSCAT: A delegation led by Dr Ahmed bin Mohammed al Futaisi, Minister of Transport and Communications, and comprising Shaikh Khalifa bin Ali al Harthy, the Sultanate Permanent Delegate to the UN in New York and member of the technical team for extending the Sultanate’s continental shelf will take part in discussing the Sultanate’s application to extend its continental shelf to the United Nations Division for Ocean Affairs and Law of the Sea.
The main steering committee for extending the continental shelf project (which comprise a number of organisations) appointed a consultancy company to help in carrying out the necessary maritime surveys that included seismic surveys for the study area, in addition to carrying out surveys for the depths and collection of rock samples.
The technical team of the main committee has earlier made a presentation before the UN Continental Shelf Committee about the Sultanate’s application to extend its continental shelf. The presentation has been supported with evidences to get the maximum possible extension.
It should be noted that the Sultanate’s application to extend its continental shelf was submitted to the United Nations Continental Shelf Committee in October 2017. The executive summary of the application has been published at the UN website. The Sultanate’s initial application, which was submitted in 2009, has been accepted and circulated to permanent delegates.
The Sultanate’s aim behind this application is to establish its eligibility to extend its continental shelf as per the provision of article 76 of the UN Convention for the Law of the Sea which gives the coastal states the right to extend their continental shelf to post special economic zone.
— ONA
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